10 Cool Uses for Honey

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Here we go with bees on the brain again! I still haven’t decided if I am going to dabble at beekeeping, but the prospect of honey definitely sweetens the idea.

While the sheer possibility of a big mason jar of honey in my kitchen cabinets sends my taste buds into overdrive, I hear that there are lots of other ways to it. Here’s 10 cool uses for honey, besides eating:

Give yourself a facial. Honey softens the skin and has healing properties, so glop some on, wait a bit and rinse. Plus, if in the process, some sneaks onto your lips, it will be an added bonus.

Use as an antiseptic. Next time you get a cut or scrap, try dabbing honey on the wound, it’s natural antiseptic qualities should have you boo-boo free in no time.

Put away those expensive energy bars and take a spoonful of honey to your next workout. Take a tablespoon before you exercise and it will provide a great natural energy boost.

Use to treat allergies. Local raw honey has been shown to minimize symptoms of hay fever.

Use to treat a sore throat. I guess Mary Poppins was right, “a spoonful of honey” really does help the medicine go down. Squeeze the juice of a lemon into a cup and mix with a tablespoon of honey. It should help ease the pain of a sore throat.

Use to treat a cough. A tablespoon of honey is supposed to coat the throat, lessening a persistent cough.

Make your own lip balm. Use a little honey, almond oil and beeswax to make your own moisturizing {and completely natural} lip balm.

Get rid of parasites. Mix honey, vinegar, and water to rid yourself of worms and parasites. {Hmmm, wonder if this would work as a maintenance program for dogs–anyone know?}

Treat acne. Dab a little on your blemish and let sit.

Control hair frizzies. Dab a little on your ends and rinse, or mix honey with some olive oil for a deep conditioning hair mask {allow it to sit for 20 minutes and then wash it out}.

Did you know that in the 11th century, honey was in such high demand that German peasants were required to pay their feudal lords in honey and beeswax? Hmm, I wonder if my mortgage company will start taking honey as payment?

In order for #4 to work (for seasonal allergies/hay fever), you need to have a spoonful or so of RAW local honey everyday for a long period of time. I bought honey from as close to home as I could (an apiary supply store in Snohomish, WA in my case) and started this last year. I believe it has really helped!

We use honey all the time and try to get it locally when we can. My daughter loves PB and honey sandwiches and helps with her allergies as well. Use it in my husbands GF bread recipe as well. He likes the bread with honey much better than regular sugar. I’m going to try the hair mask tonight. Thanks!

Never did like honey much UNTIL I made an awesome Honey Oatmeal bread. Used local raw honey. And yes, a tablespoon a day of the local raw does help with allergies. I can go outside when everything is flying in the air and actually am able to breath through my nose and not wheeze; took about 4 months of use.

I use it to make cough medicine. Stuff a jar with sage and thyme. Fill the jar 1/3 with honey and 2/3 with Brandy. Let it sit for about 3 months. We use a tablespoon every four hours to help with cough.

I don’t know about the honey recommendation re: parasites, but for Lucy I would recommend a thorough deworming regimen through your vet in her first year or so. After that, she is probably good to go without regular “maintenance” for worms. Adult dogs rarely have problems with internal parasite burdens, they seem to deal with them through a healthy immune system (Except for giardia which is most often found if the pet is drinking from standing water or exposed to a highly-contaminated environment-but nothing is a preventative for girida). Now as for fleas/ticks they are another story – Lucy should definitely be on a monthly preventative for those. As a veterinary tech, I reccomend Frontline plus or Revolution, FWIW./

You asked about dogs. I give my dog (a sheltie) a lick of honey regularly. She suffers from seizures several times a year (it’s absolutely heartbreaking each and every time to watch and didn’t start until she was about four or five years old). The vet doesn’t want to put her on meds because she doens’t have them often enough to justify the slew of other issues that comes with the meds. And I agree. But after doing research online, I’ve found that there is some evidence that honey can help dogs with seizures. If I notice she is “off” (in a way only a momma would notice), I give her some. If I don’t catch it in time, I do try to give her some at the start of a seizure and I believe it helps to shorten them. I have no true proof and the vet sort of rolls her eyes at me and constantly suggests expensive x-rays and procedures. But I believe it helps and she likes it so …. that’s what we do.

But do note that while my vet is not opposed to this, she isn’t reccomending it either. And I am not a vet. Or anything science-y.

I really want to start making mead. I have been thinking about it for weeks and am going to bite the bullet and buy 5-10 lbs of local raw honey and get started. Now I just need to go to a home brewing store for some supplies.

I was looking online for some home remedies for warts and saw that someone recommended honey. My 8yr old grandson got a big wart on his thumb and I was looking for alternatives for him. For about 5-6 nights I put a small dot of honey on a band aid and left it overnight covering the wart. It wasn’t every night, maybe a couple of times per week. It got smaller, then blackened, and completely fell off last week!

As for a dog, my vet suggested squirting a dab of mustard on my dogs food a few times a year.
As for honey, I gave my son a teaspoon before bed every night and it helped stop bed wetting. He only had an accident when we ran out and I forgot to get some for two days!!